


Secret for a Secret

by aerum (CatReginae)



Series: Aerum's LinkedUniverse Oneshots [6]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Crossover, Gen, Legend of Zelda AU, Linked Universe, LinkedUniverse, back for now I guess, not canon, secret trade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 06:02:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20484068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatReginae/pseuds/aerum
Summary: Legends works out Twilight's secret, but Twilight soon finds that they have that in common.





	Secret for a Secret

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is part of the LinkedUniverse AU, which is made by @jojo56830 on tumblr. If you haven't checked it out already you can do so [here!](https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/) I highly recommend it!
> 
> The plot is probably not related though, but have fun with it anyway.

They made camp a little earlier that day, underneath a patch of trees that seemed to provide enough shade and shelter against the elements. Ordinarily, they would have continued since they still had enough sunlight to travel, but since some of them were getting tired, and the camp site was a good one, they just decided to stop there. The forested area they were in was small, surrounded by rocky walls that made up the base of one of the several mountains that Wild had in his Hyrule.

“I'm going to go collect some firewood,” Twilight announced as some of the others began to set up, looking towards Wild as he did so. Wild was on the ground, leaning most of his weight against his pack, his head titled backwards to face the sky. Twilight was always the one to collect firewood since he could carry the most, but Wild often tagged along. Wild wasn't so interested in the firewood, but he liked to look for mushrooms and herbs to stash away for later. Sometimes, his protege would speak his mind while they were alone, and sometimes, he would speak about the feelings he tried so hard to bury. It wasn't a lot of time they had together, but it was their time alone. 

Except, Wild looked too worn out for it today. It struck Twilight as a little strange, but he left it alone. He didn't always sleep well, and if needed a nap before dinner, then he should take a nap. He didn't really need help with the firewood anyway, and it wasn't like Wild helped much in the first place. 

“I'll go with you,” Legends said, jumping to his feet. Wind, Four, and Time quirked their eyebrows, and Twilight resisted the urge to do the same. Legends never went for firewood, and he seemed to stick around the camp unless he had to patrol. 

“Sure.” He wasn't sure what else he could say. It wasn't like he could stop Legends from following. They left together, and once they were out of earshot, Twilight spun around on his heels, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He couldn't keep the slight frown from his face, but he doubted that Legends was bothered by it anyway. 

“Is there something you wanted?” 

Legends smirked, mirroring Twilight's stance. “I just had a question, that's all. I thought that you wouldn't like it if I ask in front of everybody else. It's kind of private.” 

Twilight blinked as his cheeks burned. His mind twisted, trying to figure what Legends could have been talking about. He had quite a few secrets, and he didn't particularly enjoy the idea of Legends knowing any of them. Though to be fair, there were some that none of the others knew, secrets he kept from Time even, and he wanted to keep it that way. He had his reasons. 

Legends was still smirking. Why was he still smirking? At least he had the decency to wait though, for whatever it was that he wanted to ask about. 

“You're that wolf, right? The big, oddly intelligent and cooperative wolf?” 

He was sure all of the colour drained from his face. He had to ball his fists to keep them from shaking. How did Legends know? Did somebody tell him? ...No, the ones who knew kept his secret for this long, and they didn't seem to be the kind to say anything. He trusted all of them. Wild liked to threaten to say something sometimes, but Twilight knew that he never actually go through with any of those threats. Did he accidentally transform in front of him? Midna was always a lot better about making sure nobody was around than he was. Did the other five know, then? Was his secret completely blown?

“Hey!” Legends called out, snapping his fingers in front of his face. “Relax. I figured it out on my own.” 

“But... how?” At least he knew it wasn't because somebody told him, or that Twilight made a mistake.

Legends stuck up a single finger. “One, your necklace reeks of magic. I've used so many magical tools at this point that I can tell almost instantly when something uses magic. I didn't always know what your necklace did, but I always knew it contained some sort of dark magic. Two,” he raised another finger, “you're never around when the wolf is, and you happen to disappear as soon as it arrives, and three,” he raised the another, “I know a thing or two about magic changing one's shape. Better?” 

Twilight sighed, but nodded. By the sounds of it, it was just a matter of time before he figured it out. Maybe he already knew for a while, and just waited before confronting him about it. 

“Who else knows?” Legends asked, lowering his hand as his face settled into something more neutral. It was almost sympathetic, Twilight thought.

“Time, Wild, and Four.” 

“I can see the old man and Wild, but Four?” 

Twilight shrugged. He wasn't sure who else knew about Four's shrinking ability, and it wasn't up him to spill his secret. Four knew something about him, and he knew something about Four. It was a fair trade. Legends looked exasperated for all of two seconds, before he shook his head and his face settled back again. 

But then, Twilight noticed something. 

“Wait, so you've been transformed too?” 

Legends merely shrugged. “More than you know. Quite a few different forms too. Most of them aren't forms I would care to experience again.” 

Huh, so more than one. Twilight wanted to ask just what those forms were, but he ultimately decided not to. He felt like getting Legends to talk about his transformations at all was amazing and he should quit while he was still ahead. 

“Anyway, we should head back soon, or they'll send somebody out to come look for us. They won't be happy to know we haven't even started yet.”

Legends had a point. They quickly gathered the sticks and returned to camp.

* * *

Did it even work anymore? 

It was a question Legends asked himself too often since he started this crazy adventure, and ever since he had that conversation with Twilight, the question just kept bothering him. He knew that the bracelet Ravio gave him shattered, so he had no idea what it was doing back on his wrist, or where it even came from. Heck, he didn't even know how Ravio managed to get back to Hyrule. Whenever they had some down time, his eyes would flick over to it, but he looked away quickly, as he didn't want to be caught looking at it. It was tacky enough as it was, it certainly didn't need more attention drawn to it. 

Why wouldn't it work? It looked as it did previously, even with the purple in the middle. It didn't even look like that when Ravio first gave it to him. Legends couldn't help but to dwell on how it shouldn't be there at all, so he couldn't focus on whether or not it would work. And really, what was so hard about testing it out when he was alone? It wouldn't have answered most of the questions, but it would answer one of the most important ones. 

The chance to test it came when Wind and Four accidentally triggered a stone monster to crawl up from the ground in Wild's Hyrule. The weak spot was obvious, and there were nine of them, but monsters were never easy anymore. Monsters they could take on their own somehow ended up being a team effort, and Legends had a feeling that the stone monster was no different. His hunch was proven true when it swung its massive arm at them with speed that Legends didn't expect out of a monster quite literally made from stone. Wild had the gall to look surprised. 

“Isn't this monster yours?” Captain asked as he withdrew his sword, though he looked a little apprehensive. Legends didn't blame him. He wasn't sure if a sword could do much against the body – the only thing that resembled a weak spot seemed to be on the top of it, and unless they were all crazy like Wild was, they couldn't get up there. It would have to be a long-range battle.

“Yeah, but I've never seen one here!” 

“How are you even surprised by monsters acting strangely anymore?” Legends asked as he ran to the back, his bow and arrow drawn. The arrow he fired merely bounced off of the ore deposit on its back. Four was to his right, firing off a barge of arrows that didn't seem to be doing anything. 

“Wild! How do we deal with it?” Time shouted. 

“We're doing the right thing – it just a takes a while to kill a talus!” 

Great. He always enjoyed hearing about how hard something was to kill. At least he didn't recognize the talus from his own Hyrule – his lynels were hard enough to defeat without being armed with a giant club and a bow like Wild's were and he didn't much appreciate the hinoxes being so much larger either. The fact that he couldn't compare the stone thing to something else he knew almost felt like a consolation prize. 

“Legends!” 

He was torn from his thoughts when he heard a shout. He wasn't sure which one of them called his name, but he cursed himself for getting distracted long enough to miss the fact that a stone arm was coming for him from his left. There was a stone wall behind him, and he doubted he could get away from it if he dodged to the right. 

Legends closed his eyes and focused. 

For a moment, he was disorientated. The arm collided against the rock wall, bursting upon impact. He heard another shout, but it sounded distant and quiet. His hearing always did seemed somewhat warped when he was merged with a wall though. None of senses weren't quite normal when he was using the bracelet. There was nothing to smell, his sight was mostly monocular unless he turned, and that in itself was a strange sense as well. 

Legends gave himself a moment to adjust. It was too long since he last used the bracelet. It almost felt like the first time he was merged with a wall, back when he first confronted Yuga in the Eastern Palace. He quickly regained his bearings and moved, giving himself plenty of space between him and Talus before popping out. It didn't seem to notice him getting into position behind it, it being too preoccupied with Wild. He noted the ferocity and anger that burned in Wild's eyes before Legends fetched one of the medallions from the necklace on his neck. 

He was going to take care of it once and for all. 

“Everyone! Get out of here! I got this,” Legends called out. Thankfully, nobody questioned it, and darted out of the way. He raised his sword, with the medallion in his other hand, and focused. He could hear the thumping of the talus as it stepped towards him before the medallion's magic exploded outward in a swirl of heat and fire. The talus crumbled to the ground. The chunks of rocks didn't move again. 

Maybe the bombos medallion was a bit overkill, but Legends was getting quite tired the enchanted monsters, the constant switching of Hyrules, his friends being in danger – though he didn't particularly want to call them his friends in front of them – and he certainly didn't appreciate nearly being crushed by it. He didn't want to contemplate what would have happened if any of the others had been in his position instead. 

Then the nausea and the dizziness hit him. He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Legends! Are you okay?” It was Wind. “I thought you were crushed but...” 

“Yeah, fine, just used too much magic,” he mumbled, sitting down on the largest of the rocks that came from the talus. “I just need to sit down for a bit, and then we can go on.”

“Are you sure? That was a lot of magic,” 'Rule mumbled. 

Time shook his head. “This was an exciting enough day, so we should settle down. We'll just get up early tomorrow.” 

“Fine, whatever.” It wasn't like he was in a position to complain anyway. 

* * *

Twilight came back with wood quickly, once they picked a campsite and began settling down. Legends was sitting on a fallen log, his head resting in his hands as everyone else set up camp around him. He looked bored, but at least he regained some colour. Twilight dropped the pile of wood in the centre of camp, where there was a nice big patch of dirt, then joined Legends on the log. Legends wasn't his normal choice for company, but somehow, it felt right tonight. 

Legends quirked an eyebrow.

“Are you feeling alright now?” Twilight asked, both out of genuine concern and out of habit. He wasn't sure how else to start a conversation. 

“Yeah, I'm fine,” he said with a sigh. “I haven't used magic like that in a long time. It just left me drained, that's all.” 

“I'm glad it's just that. It could have been a lot worse.” Twilight didn't know how Legends escaped the talus, but quite frankly, he didn't really care. The most important thing was that Legends wasn't crushed. Drained was a lot better than crushed. 

“Funny, that something like that happens so quickly after our conversation. I guess the Goddess has a sense of humour.” 

Twilight leaned in. “You transformed to get away from the talus?” he asked in a whisper. 

“You can turn into a wolf, and I can turn into a painting. You can't flatten what's already flat.” He shrugged.

“A painting, huh,” he said to himself. If they weren't together in a crazy mess already, Twilight wasn't sure he would believe anyone who claimed as such. He saw some pretty weird transformations himself – in fact, he was the prime example – but a living painting was a little beyond even him. He didn't doubt it though. Twilight couldn't imagine any other form that could have saved him like that.

Legends only nodded, but when he saw that they had company, Twilight didn't blame him for declining to speak any further. As far as Twilight knew, he was the only one who knew that Legends could transform too. Legends only confided that to make him feel better about working his secret out. He didn't have to explain that they had that in common, but he did anyway. 

“So,” Captain started, joining the two of them on the log once he was done his part to help set up for the night. He was sitting on the other side of Legends, and for a moment, Twilight worried that maybe Legends would feel too crowded, but for the moment at least, he didn't seem to mind. “I'm glad that you're alright... but, how are you alright?” 

Legends studied his face for a moment, before his lips curled into a smirk. 

“Magic.” 

“Oh, come on!” Captain sighed. “You know what I'm talking about! What kind of magic?”

“You didn't see?” 

“No.” 

“That's too bad, then.” 

Captain huffed, then crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Fine, keep your secrets... But,” he started, his arms relaxing. “I am glad, you know. I thought you were a goner for a second there. I don't think I've ever seen the old man lose his cool in battle like that before.” 

“I'm fine,” Legends said, leaning back on the log. “I have lots of tricks up my sleeve. It'll take more than that to take me out.”

“Still, we should all be careful,” Twilight warned. “We can't afford to lose anybody.” 

Legends and Captain both nodded, but then fell into silence. It was fine though. It was a busy day, and some silence was nice.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for disappearing for a while! It's been hard to get myself in a mood to write or do anything creative since my anxiety got worse, but I'm on medication for it now, so I might be able to put out more fics.


End file.
